04 November 2016

McDonald Peak

Los Padres National Forest

Another weekend, anther peak to grab with the Hundred Peaks Section, or so it seems. Except this weekend is coming a little earlier and has a few more peaks. I think of it as "Alamo and friends" because that is the big mountain in the group, but the others are calling a "Cobblestone Complex Cleanout" because that is seen as the hard peak of the weekend. Cobblestone does stand out in the mind and actually is my main motivation to sign up for this madness. It starts off easy, though. First thing is a little jaunt up McDonald Peak. It is short and not even particularly steep.

McDonald Peak is right over there, behind the tree.

Parking is a bit of a challenge for our group. There is really space for 2 cars, but there are 20 of us and we fit in 4 cars. It seems there are ways. From the parking area, there is a thin track climbing the hill. We gather beside it, don a few pieces of bright garb in recognition of the last weekend of hunting season, and start up.

The climb. It is quite gentle. We are all packed for a much longer trip since longer trips are the main focus.

Some Day Fire 2006 destruction on the way to Hungry Valley.

The continuation of the ridge as we turn for the peak. There might be a section corner down by the saddle, but traveling with a group does not allow looking for it.

A little more up as we stroll to the top of the peak.

It is just a short climb, brief respite, then a little more gentle climb to stand at the top. The small effort brings rewards of views and a benchmark. One might even think this peak bagging thing was easy.

Slabs of white rock for Whiteacre Peak below.

Finding the benchmark is the whole point of coming up the peak, right?

Home is somewhere out there, but I cannot see my house from here.

Cobblestone Mountain is just down the ridge and up the next one.

There was a silly request for a photo of a tree through the hole in the hollow standing dead tree. So here it is.

But we have one more peak for today, so we cannot stay long. We head down again. It is a nice stroll downhill, too.